To be gone from home for three-fourths of a year totally feels unreal. I mean, I don’t know a SINGLE PERSON that has been gone from home for more than five months.

I’m going to be without almost all the things I love at home. I won’t go to a school, which means I won’t be able to see friends for a while, and seeing family is very unlikely. There won’t be any internet access on the ship, so I can’t communicate with family and friends.

The good things, though, overpower the bad things by a huge amount. I don’t have to go to school. I get to be in charge of all our social media stuff, and everybody can see this blog, so that’s cool. And I get to go around the world. How awesome is that?

The entertainment on the ship will be limited, but they will have a ping-pong table so I can play some table tennis, and we will also bring some travel games and stuff like that. There will be about 700 people on the ship and most of them are college students so I’ll be able to make a lot of friends.

The world is a large place, and getting to see all of these places at age 12 is pretty amazing.

It’s an ADVENTURE! Later in life, you’ll always have this in your memory bank. It’s a lot more important than ‘stuff’. I’m sure your ship will have internet access. It may be sketchy on sea days but should work better in port. (ship antenna pointing at satellite) We do a lot of SKYPE when travelling. Enjoy!